One holiday down, on to the next one. I hope you all have recovered from your food comas by now and are ready to forge ahead with the holiday indulgences! I created these delectable treats not too long ago and have used all my will power to wait until after Thanksgiving to share with all of you. My dark chocolate candy cane cookies! These are Christmas in cookie form. The richness of the dark chocolate paired with the coolness from the peppermint and the creaminess you get from the white chocolate chips create the perfect balance. They are adorable too and make wonderful favors or gifts for your friends.
I host an annual Holiday party every year with my friends and these will definitely be making an appearance this year. I really like to incorporate the flavors of the season and elicit memories in people when they taste my creations.
These will take you to the cozy winter nights, lights twinkling in the background, snow falling outside the window and the glow from the fireplace…. or the TV. Sipping on hot cocoa, or now all grown up sipping on a nice glass of red wine. Red wine and chocolate, mmm, another one of my favorite pairings!
I used one of my chewy chocolate chip cookie recipes here. I am a soft and chewy girl when it comes to my cookies. I love the texture and just something about biting into a warm, soft cookie makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside. I, again, add my brown rice syrup here to add to the chew factor and the flavor of this dark syrup was meant for chocolate. I also use a combo of baking powder and baking soda in this version. The baking powder helps with a bit of the rise and chewy texture but the baking soda helps them spread nicely. So you get the perfect soft and chewy cookie. I also use melted dark chocolate as well to really amp up that chocolatey richness! The white chocolate chips help to balance out all that dark chocolate perfectly.
For the peppermint, I used a combo of peppermint extract and crushed candy canes. You can’t have candy canes in the name and not use them! Plus, when they are cooked in the cookie they get a little bit softer in texture and that flavor melts right into the cookie. So good!
The batter will have to sit in the fridge for a couple hours to overnight or even a couple of days, before you can make them. It’s a pretty loose dough. So plan accordingly. After you roll your cookies, pop them in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking. This will keep them from spreading too much.
To finish these off, I used white chocolate candy coating melts to dip half of my cookie in. Then sprinkled with some more crushed candy cane. You are left with this beautiful marriage of flavors, enticing all of your senses and bringing you back to thoughts of childhood.
Look how pretty they turn out! Perfect, for a cookie exchange, gifts, or just because you feel like a damn good cookie! I hope you will give these a try this season, you won’t be sorry!
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temp
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup brown rice syrup
- 2 large egg room temp
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. peppermint extract
- 1 and ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder - sifted
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. espresso powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 4oz semi-sweet 4oz bittersweet chocolate chopped and melted
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup crushed candy cane
- 2 cups white chocolate melting wafers
- Mix all the dry ingredients together in medium bowl.
- In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, around 5 minutes.
- Add the brown rice syrup, egg, vanilla, peppermint extract and mix until well combined.
- Add half of the dry and ingredients and mix until incorporated, drizzle in melted chocolate while mixer running on slow, add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Do not over mix.
- Add the white chocolate chips and crushed candy cane and stir until incorporated.
- Cover and chill dough for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove chilled dough from fridge and let sit 15 to 20 minutes at room temp.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Scoop around 2 tablespoons of dough out onto pans.
- Place baking sheet in freezer for around 10 minutes.
- Bake cookies for 10 to 15 minutes, do not over bake.
- Allow to cool 10 minutes on sheet then remove to cool completely on rack.
- Enjoy!
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